In the store display of small product items, it is a common practice to provide display trays arranged to receive a plurality of product items in a front-to-back column, with a spring-actuated pusher paddle at the back of the column arranged to automatically move the column forward each time a product is removed from the front of the display. This makes for a more sales-attractive display, by keeping the merchandise always available at the front of the display where it is easily seen and easily removed.
In a typical supermarket or other large store, the products to be displayed come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes. While many such products are displayed on hooks, extending outwardly from perforated panels, products are more efficiently or more effectively displayed and sold from trays of the type mentioned above. The accommodation of different sizes, shapes and package types in these display trays requires trays of a wide variety of configurations, which can lead to the need of a storekeeper to maintain a large inventory of trays of different sizes, shapes, etc. to accommodate the various packaging. This is undesirable both from an investment standpoint and also because of the requirement for handling, storing, changing and installing the various forms of trays as the product mix changes. There thus has been a long-felt need in the trade for product display trays that are adjustable and convertible, such that a single, or a limited number of, basic tray structures can be adjusted and/or modified to accept a wide spectrum of package sizes and shapes.
One advantageous form of adjustable product display tray is represented by U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,745,906, 6,866,155, 6,886,700, 6,889,855 and 7,032,761, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. These patents are owned by Trion Industries, Inc., assignee of the present invention.
In the patented trays referred to above, among other features, advantageous arrangements are provided for easily changing the effective width of the trays, in order to accommodate packages of different widths. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,886,700, the spring-actuated pusher device, is arranged to removably receive an attachment providing greater height and/or width to the pusher paddle contacting the product column. This provides better control over the product column when displaying products significantly larger in width or height than contemplated for the “standard” tray device.